Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Acquired by Smith Thornton Advisors LLC

Smith Thornton Advisors LLC boosted its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,563 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 323 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 1.8% of Smith Thornton Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest position. Smith Thornton Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,747,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. New Hampshire Trust boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 2.7% in the second quarter. New Hampshire Trust now owns 43,714 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $7,963,000 after acquiring an additional 1,132 shares during the last quarter. Trinity Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 4.5% in the third quarter. Trinity Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,423 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $771,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares during the period. abrdn plc increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 10.7% during the third quarter. abrdn plc now owns 6,305,717 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,037,196,000 after acquiring an additional 611,233 shares during the last quarter. StoneCrest Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% during the third quarter. StoneCrest Wealth Management Inc. now owns 21,509 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,567,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EWG Elevate Inc. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 9.7% during the third quarter. EWG Elevate Inc. now owns 1,305 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $216,000 after acquiring an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Bank of America increased their price target on Alphabet from $206.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.90.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL opened at $167.83 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $127.90 and a 12-month high of $191.75. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $167.50 and a 200-day moving average of $170.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.05 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.26, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.55 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 10.61%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total transaction of $429,587.55. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,421,948.46. This trade represents a 8.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.78, for a total value of $1,898,190.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 330,466 shares in the company, valued at approximately $59,741,643.48. This trade represents a 3.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 206,795 shares of company stock valued at $34,673,866 over the last three months. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Alphabet Profile

Alphabet Inc offers various products and platforms in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia-Pacific, Canada, and Latin America. It operates through Google Services, Google Cloud, and Other Bets segments. The Google Services segment provides products and services, including ads, Android, Chrome, devices, Gmail, Google Drive, Google Maps, Google Photos, Google Play, Search, and YouTube.